Quarterback who?
Gundy seems resigned to using two QBs to start the season
STILLWATER — Quarterback intrigue builds as Corvallis, Oregon, nears for OSU football. The only hand Mike Gundy has shown is a willingness to play two quarterbacks at Oregon State on August 30.
But implicit in the quarterback clues is that if Spencer Sanders and Dru Brown share the honors against the Beavers, it will be because Gundy believes he has to. Not because he wants to.
Quarterback platoons are so last century. No self-respecting football coach plays two QBs, unless it's in a short-yardage or goal-line situation. Playing two quarterbacks is like
shooting long 2-pointers or hitting the ball to the opposite field. As old fashioned as the Spiegel Catalog.
Time was, twoquarterback systems weren't ridiculed.
The highest-scoring NFL team in history, the 1950 Rams, platooned quarterbacks, Bob Waterfield and Norm Van Brocklin. The Cowboys and Redskins became bitter rivals in the 1970s, when both spent time alternating QBs. Craig Morton and Roger Staubach in Dallas; Sonny Jurgensen and Billy Kilmer in
Washington. Tom Landry, not exactly a court jester, once alternated Morton and Staubach EVERY OTHER PLAY. Paging Mr. Ripley, paging Mr. Ripley.
In the college game, Nebraska twice won national championships jockeying two quarterbacks. Jerry Tagge and Van Brownson in 1970; Tommie Frazier and Brooks Berringer in 1994. As recently as 2006, Florida won the marbles using two quarterbacks, Chris Leak and Tim Tebow.
But that is not this. Those teams were trying to win games. This OSU team is trying to identify a quarterback.
Gundy said this week that the opinions of he and his new offensive coordinator, Sean Gleeson, have not changed. “If you clearly have a player that's better than the other, you play him,” Gundy said. “If not, you have to play both guys.”
Modern football is not conducive to platooning quarterbacks. Former OSU coach Pat Jones said even back in the day, there wasn't enough practice time to get two quarterbacks the repetitions desired. Platooning quarterbacks get about 50 percent of practice snaps, compared to 80 percent for full-time starters. And now in these days of legislated limits on number and hours of practice, practice is shorter than ever, turning college football into no country for two men.
“You just don't have enough reps to go around,” Gundy said. “We don't practice as many plays as we used to.”
Besides, Gundy said, Sanders and Brown are similar in stature and styles. Two quarterbacks would not provide enough of a changeup to be worth it. After several rounds of interviews with everyone from Pistol Pete to Wes Watkins, the biggest difference in the two quarterbacks seems to be that Sanders has more arm power. Otherwise, the similarities are striking.
“These two guys are kind of the same,” Gundy said. “If you had two guys and one was like Mason Rudolph and one was a runner, then it's a little different gameplan. `If he comes in, you gotta be ready for this. If he comes in, then you kind of have to be ready for that.' I don't think it's much of an advantage, in my opinion.”
Still, there's this gnawing option that maybe the Cowboys could have a quarterback surprise. Gleeson, after all, often played two quarterbacks at Princeton, which by Ivy League standards had a strong QB pedigree. Sometimes even on the field together.
Back in the summer, Gleeson deflected any questions about a two-quarterback system — “I'm going to keep that one under the hood,” he said – but he did cop to his Princeton days.
“We played three, too,” Gleeson said. “That history at Princeton was because those guys deserved to play. It wasn't gimmicky. It wasn't something where we were trying to fool people. It was because we had quarterbacks who were talented and worked their tail off and deserved an opportunity to get on the field, just as if we were playing two tight ends at the same time.
“That's part of my brain, and my history is playing multiple quarterbacks, but it's always what's best for the team.”
So stay tuned for Corvallis, where the Cowboys could be playing two quarterbacks. Who knows? Maybe Gundy will come to like it.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:405:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok.com/berrytramel.